Life of Spud

Avraham and Sarah - The Original Soulmates This week's Torah portion begins with Gd's call to Avraham: Lech Lecha — go forward, for your own sake — from Charan in northern Syria to an unknown land due south. It is the beginning of everything. But before we can understand what Avraham was called to , we have to ask a question that haunted the Sages, the commentators, and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks: why Avraham at all? The Torah is usually generous with its reasoning. We know why Gd chose Noah: "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation." We understand why Gd chose Moshe — we see him as a young man, unable to stand idly by when he witnesses injustice. But the Torah gives us nothing of the kind for Avraham. He simply receives the call, and goes. To fill this gap, Rabbi Sacks points to a Midrash built on a striking image: a traveler who comes upon a palace engulfed in flames. He wonders — can it be that a palace this magnificent has no owner? And at that momen...